Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Psalm 7
A song[a] of David to the Eternal regarding Cush, the Benjaminite.
1 O Eternal my God, in You I seek refuge.
Save me from those who are chasing me. Rescue me,
2 Or else they will tear me to pieces as a lion devours his prey;
they will carry me off with no one to snatch me from their jaws.
3 O Eternal my God, if I have done anything wrong to deserve this,
if there is blood on my hands,
4 If I have mistreated a friend,
or if I have stolen from an adversary without just cause,
5 Then let my enemy come after me and catch me,
stomping me into the ground, ending my life,
and grinding my honor into the dirt.
[pause][b]
6 Arise, O Eternal One, inflamed by Your anger.
Come and counter the rage of my adversaries;
open Your eyes, my God; hear my plea for justice once and for all.
7 Let the people gather around You.
Return to Your rightful place above them in the high court.
8 The Eternal will judge the nations.
Judge me now, Eternal One, according to my virtue and integrity.
9 Please, bring the evil actions of these wicked, wicked people to an end!
But secure the righteous,
For You, righteous God,
examine our hearts and minds.
10 God is my defender;
He rescues those who have a pure heart.
11 God is a just judge;
He passes judgment daily against the person who does evil.
12 If the wicked do not turn from their evil deeds, God will sharpen His sword;
He will bend His bow, stringing it in readiness.
13 Yes, He has prepared His deadly weapons
with His arrows flaming hot.
14 See, my enemies are fertile with evil.
They conceive trouble
and give birth to deception.
15 They prepare a trap, digging a deep pit,
and fall into the snare they have made.
16 The trouble they plan will return to punish them,
and their violent acts will come back to haunt them.
17 As a result, I will thank the Eternal for His justice
and sing praises in honor of the Eternal, Most High.
7 Son of man, I have appointed you as a lookout for the nation of Israel. You must listen to what I have to say, then go and pass My warning on to your countrymen. 8 If I have a message for the wicked such as, “Wicked one, you are going to die,” and you don’t warn him to change his ways, then he will surely die because of his wickedness; but I will hold you responsible for his death. 9 If you do warn him to change his ways and he doesn’t do anything about it, then he will die because of his wickedness; but you will have saved your own life.
10 Son of man, you must tell the people of Israel, “You keep saying, ‘Our crimes and sins are weighing us down! We are rotting away! How can we live?’” 11 Tell them, “As I live,” says the Eternal Lord, “I don’t enjoy watching the wicked die; I want the wicked to stop doing what they’re doing and live! Repent! Turn from your wicked ways. Why would you choose to die instead of live, people of Israel?”
12 Son of man, tell your people, “The righteousness of the righteous won’t save him on the day he breaks My law, and the wickedness of the wicked won’t cause him to stumble and fall if he turns away from his wickedness. The righteous is not able to depend on his former right actions to save him when he decides to sin. 13 If I assure life to the one who does what is right, but he depends on his reputation for doing right and ends up sinning, then none of his former right actions will be remembered or tallied in his favor. He will surely die because of his sins. 14 If I tell the wicked, ‘You are certainly going to die,’ but he turns from his wicked path and chooses to be honest and do what is right, 15 if he gives back a debtor’s collateral, if he returns what he has stolen, if he lives by the laws that offer true life and abandons his evil ways; then he will certainly live. He will escape death. 16 Not one of his former sins will be remembered and tallied against him. He has lived by what is right and true, and he will certainly live.”
17 Still your own people say, “The Lord’s way is not fair at all.” But they are the ones with perverted ways. 18 If a good person turns from the good path he is on and chooses to act wickedly, he will die for it. 19 If a wicked man turns from the wicked path he is on and chooses to live by what is right and true, he will save his life. 20 But you, people of Israel, continue to complain, “The Lord’s way is not fair at all.” I will judge each of you according to what you have done.
Jesus: 19 The truth is that the Son does nothing on His own; all these actions are led by the Father. The Son watches the Father closely and then mimics the work of the Father. 20 The Father loves the Son, so He does not hide His actions. Instead, He shows Him everything, and the things not yet revealed by the Father will dumbfound you. 21 The Father can give life to those who are dead; in the same way, the Son can give the gift of life to those He chooses.
22 The Father does not exert His power to judge anyone. Instead, He has given the authority as Judge to the Son. 23 So all of creation will honor and worship the Son as they do the Father. If you do not honor the Son, then you dishonor the Father who sent Him.
24 I tell you the truth: eternal life belongs to those who hear My voice and believe in the One who sent Me. These people have no reason to fear judgment because they have already left death and entered life.
25 I tell you the truth: a new day is imminent—in fact, it has arrived—when the voice of the Son of God will penetrate death’s domain, and everyone who hears will live. 26-27 You see, the Father radiates with life; and He also animates the Son of God with the same life-giving beauty and power to exercise judgment over all of creation. Indeed, the Son of God is also the Son of Man. 28 If this sounds amazing to you, what is even more amazing is that when the time comes, those buried long ago will hear His voice through all the rocks, sod, and soil 29 and step out of decay into resurrection. When this hour arrives, those who did good will be resurrected to life, and those who did evil will be resurrected to judgment.
30 I have not ever acted, and will not in the future act, on My own. I listen to the directions of the One who sent Me and act on these divine instructions. For this reason, My judgment is always fair and never self-serving. I’m committed to pursuing God’s agenda and not My own.
31 If I stand as the lone witness to My true identity, then I can be dismissed as a liar. 32 But if you listen, you will hear another testify about Me, and I know what He says about Me is genuine and true. 33 You sent messengers to John, and he told the truth to everyone who would listen. 34 Still his message about Me originated in heaven, not in mortal man. I am telling you these things for one reason—so that you might be rescued. 35 The voice of John the Baptist, the wandering prophet, is like a light in the darkness; and for a time, you took great joy and pleasure in the light he offered.
36 There’s another witness standing in My corner who is greater than John or any other man. The mission that brings Me here, and the things I am called to do, demonstrate the authenticity of My calling which comes directly from the Father. 37 In the act of sending Me, the Father has endorsed Me. None of you really knows the Father. You have never heard His voice or seen His profile. 38 His word does not abide in you because you do not believe in the One sent by the Father.
39 Here you are scouring through the Scriptures, hoping that you will find eternal life among a pile of scrolls. What you don’t seem to understand is that the Scriptures point to Me. 40 Here I am with you, and still you reject the truth contained in the law and prophets by refusing to come to Me so that you can have life.
The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.